Attempting Pipeline Porter Extract Recipe

Updated 3/30/10 for final recipe.

Here is what I came up with for an extract recipe to get close to Kona Brewing Company's Pipeline Porter. If you haven't tried it, it's fantastic. They use 100% Kona coffee during cold conditioning and it works very well.

0.75lb Pale Chocolate Malt
0.50lb Roasted Barley
1.00lb Crystal 60L
7.00lb Light LME

0.25oz Warrior 60min
1oz Perle 60min

Safale US-05

Add 4oz of crushed whole bean coffee for 2-3 days after fermentation

Any suggested changes? BeerPal gives me the following values for this recipe:

OG: 1.058
FG: 1.015
ABV: 5.7%
IBU: 32
SRM: 37.0

Fits well within 12B Robust Porter guidelines. FG is on the low end of the guidelines, but that's ok.

i can't help ya none. but if it turns out I'd like to know. that is a good brew

Something is fishy with the OG. I'm only getting 1.047 when I put that recipe into beer smith. I'd recommend another lb of the light LME

maida7 said:

Something is fishy with the OG. I'm only getting 1.047 when I put that recipe into beer smith. I'd recommend another lb of the light LME

Click to expand...

That's interesting. That OG is for only 7# of LMe assuming the carapils and chocolate offer no fermentable sugar. If that's true then BrewPal doesn't handle specialty grains correctly.

Edit: I just downloaded the trial of beersmith and I get 1.052 for OG. I'm not sure what you're entering.

My father in law loves this beer... When I got him into homebrewing he did stout made with lactose and brewed coffee (1 or 2 gallons chilled into the primary instead of water to top off)

Its a great beer, especially for breakfast! You really get the coffee flavor through that way - just something to think about.

I brewed this last night. My LHBS was out of chocolate malt so I had to settle for pale chocolate. I changed the recipe as follows:

0.75lb Pale Chocolate Malt
0.50lb Roasted Barley
1.00lb Crystal 60L
7.00lb Light LME

0.25oz Warrior 60min
1oz Perle 60min

Safale US-05

I plan on leaving this in primary for two weeks then secondary for 4 weeks. I'll add 4oz crushed 100% Kona whole bean coffee 3 days before bottling.

Do you just dump the grounds into the beer for 2-3 days after fermentation finishes? or do you put it in a mesh bag and remove prior to bottling?

In a muslin bag for three days before bottling and then I'll siphon the beer and leave the bag behind with the trub.

Quick update on this. I took a gravity reading yesterday at 9 days in primary (I really just wanted to taste it) and it's reading around 1.023... about .008 higher than the expected final gravity. I'm not too worried about it, it's going to end where it's going to end. The more important note is that it tasted absolutely perfect! It already has a nice roast flavor from the addition of the roasted barley and I would venture to say the base flavor is spot on. I can't wait to add the coffee in a couple weeks and see how this turns out!

I bottled this up yesterday after crushing 4oz of coffee and tossing it in primary for three days. I didn't bag the coffee, just tossed it straight in. I used the muslin bag around the bottom of my autosiphon while transferring to the bottling bucket and it worked flawlessly. All the coffee was left behind and the siphon didn't clog at all.

I'm mildly concerned about this brew just because the smell/taste changed a lot since my first gravity check. I won't call it sour, but the flavors just seem a bit off. Granted, this is after coffee was added and there is a good amount of dark grain that needs time to mellow. Other than the slight off flavor, the coffee came through at the end very nicely. It's not as up-front as the Pipeline, but very good. I'll see how it is coming along starting in two weeks and then a bottle a week until it's ready.

Do the bag and grounds need to be sanitized? if so, how?

I didn't sanitize the grounds, but I did sanitize the bag by soaking in Starsan. I figured coffee beans aren't too hospitable to bacteria, but we'll find out in a few weeks.

I have a similar coffee porter experiment coming along. I just threw in 3oz of *$ into the 2ndary, problem was it was only 1 gallon whoops. Should be a buzzing experience! will update when its ready.

You crack a bottle open yet?

boostsr20 said:

You crack a bottle open yet?

Click to expand...

I have cracked a couple... one about a week ago and one last night. It doesn't have the same smooth coffee flavor as Pipeline and is a bit more astringent. There was a ton of improvement from the first bottle to the second so I think it just need a couple months in the bottle to come into its own. Maybe the coffee will come to the front after aging a while. It's only been in the bottle for three weeks and with the amount of dark grain I think it will need at least twice that.

Anymore updates on it after being bottled a while? I just brewed a porter yesterday and threw 6oz whole Kona beans in at flame out and I plan to do a cold extraction with another 4oz when I bottle it.

It's not mellowing out much. It's not the coffee though, there were some fundamental problems with the brew. It finished way too high at around 1.021 so it is cloyingly sweet. There is an acrid flavor in there, too. I did get a chance to speak with somebody from Kona and they said they use a press to extract the coffee flavor, but the guy I talked to wasn't sure if they use cold or hot water to steep the coffee.

Mine finished a couple months ago, and the result was merely soso. There is an excessive acrid taste, along with some coffee grounds in some of the bottles.

I popped another one of these since my sister was visiting and she likes porters. She really liked it and said the coffee was up front and very tasty. It has been in the bottle for four months now and I agree it's starting to mellow nicely. The acrid taste is almost gone and only rears its head if the beer warms up. I can see this making an awesome porter float with some vanilla ice cream. I have a case left and I think I will let it sit in the closet for another few months.

I tried a commercial porter and noticed the same slight acrid taste so it may be that I just don't care for the roasted malt.

I was wondering if the coffee would mellow with aging...one suggestion if it's still not up to par might be to wait until the FG is reached and then add the coffee.

Also pale chocolate (from experience with a buddy's porter) is really subtle, so that might have left the door open for the coffee to come through more than expected. Would a dark LME have helped at all?

I ended up doing a Kona Porter myself. Its been about 1 and a half months in bottles and its pretty damn good. I did a cold extraction with the coffee and added it at bottling. I also use cracked whole beans in the secondary. I didn't want to have to deal with grounds.

boostsr20 said:

I ended up doing a Kona Porter myself. Its been about 1 and a half months in bottles and its pretty damn good. I did a cold extraction with the coffee and added it at bottling. I also use cracked whole beans in the secondary. I didn't want to have to deal with grounds.

Click to expand...

Would you mind sharing your recipe? My grain bill isn't balanced and the roasted malt came through too harsh.

Update: I have a coworker that likes darker styles so I offered up the coffee porter and let her know about the flaws. The next day she gushed about how good it is. I told her there are plenty more where that came from. I had a couple chilling in my fridge for a few weeks so I decided to crack one open last night to see if it has changed by some miracle. IT WAS GOOOOOD! It has been six months since bottling and it is finally coming into its own. The acrid coffee flavor is gone and replaced by a smooth, subtle coffee flavor and no harsh aftertaste. I still brought her a six pack of it today like I promised, but I only have about 12 - 12oz bottles left now.

Trying to make this next week... Gonna try to finalize the recipe today.

I'm working through the calculationsand getting an og of 1.070 on two different iPhone apps... What is the problem? (post-boil)

Plus, cold press the coffee for 12 hrs at room temp and then in the fridge for 24hrs before blending just before bottling. Any suggestions? This should reduce astringency as it reduces tannin extraction...

The pipeline has a smooth taste. Is that a result of kona coffee or should there be a lactose/ oat addition for a silky mouthfeel?

Would you guys change the recipe at all or stick with what was listed?

Im gunna take a stab at brewing this weekend. Any other suggestions for yeast? Also going to try and get some chocolate malt.